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1967 Newark riots
The 1967 Newark riots occurred from 12 to 17 July 1967 in the city of Newark, New Jersey. The riots, caused by the beating of black taxi driver John Smith during an arrest by the police, led to 26 deaths, 727 injuries, and 1,465 arrests. The riots occurred during the "Long Hot Summer of 1967", a season which saw 159 race riots occur across the country, and the riots sealed Newark's fate as an impoverished and crime-ridden city, as most of the remaining (mostly white) middle-class residents departed from the city soon after. History Background The city of Newark had been negatively affected by deindustrialization and suburbanization, with the white population decreasing from 363,000 in 1950 to 46,000 in 1967; at the same time, poor African-American and Puerto Rican migrant workers arrived in Newark to seek industrial jobs at a time when industry was declining. The upper- and middle-class white residents sold their homes and moved to the suburbs rather than have their homes become less valuable due to the influx of poor residents, and racial profiling, redlining, and the lack of education, training, and jobs left the growing African-American community powerless and disenfranchised. By 1967, the traditional manufacturing base of the city had disappeared, leading to very high unemployment and poverty rates. Many blacks were disenfranchised and often subjected to police brutality from the majority-white police force and the white city government, and Mayor Hugh Joseph Addonizio took few steps to adjust to the changing economic and racial landscape. Riots On 12 July 1967, black taxi driver John Smith was arrested by two Italian-American policemen for a traffic violation and was beaten by the officers after he was accused of assaulting them and making insulting remarks. False rumors spread that Smith had died of his injuries, leading to a large crowd gathering outside of the police precinct and throwing rocks through its windows. Five policemen were struck by stones, and, that night, looters smashed store windows and threw merchandise onto sidewalks, mostly targeting liquor stores. On 13 July, a protest march was organized, but a woman smashed the windows of the 4th Precinct with a metal bar, and looting began soon after and spread like wildfire. Molotov cocktails were thrown into shops and entire buildings soon caught fire, and the policemen were issued shotguns to deal with the rising violence. At 1:00 AM on 14 July, police were told to fire if necessary, and National Guard and state troopers were dispatched to deal with the crowds. On the evening of 15 July, Rebecca Brown was killed by gunfire targeting her apartment, triggering even greater backlash and discord. By the sixth day, 16 civilians, 8 suspects, a police officer, and a firefighter had been killed, while 353 civilians, 214 suspects, 67 policemen, 55 firefighters, and 38 military personnel were injured, and 689 civilians and 811 suspectes were arrested. The riots caused over $10 million in property damage ($73 million in the 2010s), and 7,917 policemen and National Guardsmen were deployed to restore order in Newark. At the same time, riots in nearby Plainfield killed a single policeman. The riots petered out on 17 July 1967. Aftermath The riots were a major factor in the decline of Newark, and by the later 1960s and 1970s, industry and the white middle class fled the city, leaving behind poor black and Hispanic populations. During this same time, many suburban communities in North Jersey rapidly expanded. By 1996, Newark - once a manufacturing center - was the car theft capital of the world, every street had a liquor store, a pizza stand, and a seedy storefront church, and everything else was in ruins or boarded up. It soon had its first black mayor and a majority-black police force, with the black community gaining representation in the government, although the city's economic prospects continued to be grim during the 21st century. Category:Riots